New Easton Nano Stakes

I think you're on the right track Bob. I've got a couple of decades of experience with Easton products myself and from what I saw with these stakes it was a production and or QC issue. There was a tacky residue on the tubing after the heads came off that seemed to be "epoxy like" but was not set up. It gave me the impression of one part of a two part epoxy. My experience with Easton has been with their archery products, particularly aluminum and carbon arrow shafts. It's been my experience that with the proper component preparation (cleaning) and adhesive use, the components should be very difficult to separate under normal circumstances.

The design aspect of these two components is really pretty simplistic. My money is on a metal preparation or adhesive issue.

Scott

"It gave me the impression of one part of a two part epoxy."

I had a similar problem in a factory environment about thirty years ago. There was a machine that held epoxy Part A and epoxy Part B, and the operator simply pulled a lever, and the mixture was squirted into a cavity. What took a while to figure out was that the Part B nozzle was clogged, so it was only Part A that was filling the cavity. Needless to say, it didn't hold very good. Nobody even looked to see that the color was wrong for the 'mixture'. The factory for Easton might be seeing something as simple as this.

–B.G.–

Just to let everyone know, I received a more than adequate # of replacement stakes from Easton via Clint Walker. They are rock solid. As noted below, something had to have gone wrong with a batch of these at the manufacturer. I feel confident that the issue will be resolved. Thanks Clint. It is nice to see a manufacturer participate in these discussions and make every effort to correct a problem that arises.

I received 12 of the 6" Nanos from CampSaver this week.

I "tested" them in our driveway, which is compacted road base, much like some of the campsites at Phantom Ranch, or what is found on high alpine cobble.

As I do when I'm out in difficult country, I find a fist-sized rock and drive them in. I did this three times. All heads stayed on and solid. No 'click' when pulling them out or upon examination.

I don't recommend this procedure. I can usually just step on them. But this IS what I do when I have to.

I think this generation of Nanos shows promise.

BTW, my batch weighed in at 0.280 ounces each, averaged from 10 stakes.

Thanks Easton.

Very cool. Glad to see things resolved.

Waaaay off topic, and poor taste alert. First thing I thought of when I saw Greg's photo was Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence.

+1

Touche, Greg. All that's missing is the samurai sword and Ryuichi Sakamoto's haunting tunes.

I was looking at the website of an online retailer of the new Easton Nano Stakes. They had a package of four. Regular price $8.95, Sale $10.95.

Now I've lost faith in humanity.

–B.G.–

Well to address one comment- and I could very well be wrong- but I thought that the whole point of the Nano is that the "spike" is hollow like an arrow shaft, thus saving weight. This makes it pretty hard to mill the top on as one piece- it has to be attached separately somehow. If they milled the whole thing from one piece of solid aluminum it would be notably more heavy. (More expensive I'm not so sure about, but possibly. Which uses more labor, milling or epoxying?)

And also, I agree- if you can pull the heads off BY HAND then clearly they didn't get epoxied correctly. This is a manufacturing defect, not an inherent flaw of the design. Modern epoxies are hella strong.

Did I just "hear" an educated adult say "hella"?!? The world is coming to an end! ;^)